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Story

Eldon Fournie

Contributor

Lois Lorenz, on behalf of the Eldon Fournie Family

Map Location

Latitude: 4° 34' 58.112" S
Longitude: 81° 16' 44.238" W

Date

1901-1984
  • Inside a refinery with four large wheels attached to smaller wheels with belts of fabric. Men stand near the wheels. There are windows letting light into the room. Talara, Peru
  • An alligator suspended from a crane, with four men standing around it. There are two people in the background. They are beside the edge of a lake or river and there are trees on the other side of the water. An alligator caught by crew members is being suspended from a crane in Talara, Peru
  • Three men stand at the front of a train engine with a bell on top of it. There are men standing on a cart attached behind. The railway tracks are raised off of the ground with wooden blocks. There is a dirt hill in the background. International Drillers in Peru posing next to a rail car.
  • Eight men sit on a long car parked beside a hill. A woman walks behind them. There are trees in the background. International Drillers in Peru on board a motorcar.
  • A postcard showing three large buildings with many windows. They are around a square with trees in it. The sky is blue with clouds. The card reads: "Habana. Parque Central, Hotel Plaza, Manzana Gomez. Central Park, Plaza Hotel, Gomez Building." Postcard send by Eldon Fournie from Havana, Cuba.

Around 1918, Eldon Fournie was working as a labourer and plumber at the Imperial Theatre in Sarnia when he was approached by a man who offered him a job with Imperial Oil's subsidiary, the International Petroleum Company, which was operating in South America. According to Fournie, he threw down his shovel and accepted the offer on the spot. He left Sarnia in December 1920 and travelled by ship town to Talara, Peru.

On board the ship, Fournie was meant to receive his immunizations but he was so appalled by the ship's doctor that he threw the vials overboard and decided he would rather risk the consequences. The remainder of his three-week journey passed pleasantly, with a Christmas dinner and concert, and visits to the beach and tropical gardens during stops.

Shortly after his arrival in Talara, Peru, Fournie wrote to his parents complaining that there was not much work for him to do but he eventually settled into a routine which kept him very busy. He worked as a foreman of about 100 native labourers, and oversaw the transfer of oil from ship to shore and vice versa.

Life was certainly different in South America. Fournie and the other International Drillers rode around on horseback. In many pictures, Fournie is shown carrying a sidearm which was apparently used as protection against threats such as snakes.

After a brief holiday in Canada, Fournie returned to South America, this time to Colombia. Although he traded in his horse for a van, he still kept a firearm close to him. For unknown reasons, Fournie cut his contract short and came home for good in 1925. He first opened a grocery store and was later an active member in the community as a school trustee and secretary of Riverside Cemetery. 

Video Clip. A dramatic recreation telling the story of Eldon Fournie's oil adventures

Duration: 1:54 minutes - Transcription

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